Improvement in pattern-chains for looms



I J. F. WICKS. PATTERN-CHAINSFOR LOOMS.

Patented Nov. 2. 1875.

INVENTOR.

WITNE S SE SI MPETERS. FHOTDLITHOGBAPHEE. WASHINGTON, ll 0 UivrrnnSTATES Josnrn F. WIGKS, or PROVIDENCE,

RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR OF lFART OF HIS RIGHT TO EDWARD P. OHAPIN, OFSAME PLACE.

lMPR OVEMENT 1N PATTERN-CHAINS FOR LOOMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 169,608, dated November2, 1875; application filed February 24, 1875.

To all whom it may concern! Be it known that I, JOSEPH F. WICKS, of thecity and county of Providence, in the 7 State of Rhode Island, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Pattern- Ohains forLooms; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, takenin con nection with the drawings furnished, and forming apart of thesame, is a clear, true,

and complete description of myinvention and several embodiments thereof.

It is well known to weavers of fancy goods that a harness-controllingchain, as heretofore constructed and operated on fancy looms, when madeup for producing any pattern composed of several distinct figuresconsecutively repeated, must of necessity have one bar of the chainwhich is the beginning. and the ending of a series of perfect patterns.

7 To illustrate, I will assume that a sixteen heddle loom is expected toproduce a pattern endless chain, the ninebar figure must be repeatedseventy-seven times, the eleven-bar figure sixty-three times, and theseven-bar figure ninety-nine times.

I seek by my present invention the production of patterns, whethersimple or complex in their styles, by the employment of the leastpossible number of chain-bars, and, as an instance of what may beeffected thereby, I will state that, instead of using six hundred andninety -three bars of chain, heretofore necessary for working a patternlike that already described, I can produce the same pattern by using buttwenty-seven bars. It will be seen that this great difference in thenumber of bars employed for producing the same result practicallyinvolves a saving, approximately represented by the difference in timerequisite for building'up a chain of six hundred and ninety-three barsand the time required for building up a chain of but twenty seven bars.-In addition to this advantage it will also'be seen that, if a patternwere too complex for its production heretofore on an ordinary fancy100111, by reason of the great length of chain required for the purpose,through my invention it could be readily produeed,'as only a smallnumber of bars may be made to perform the same service heretoforeperformed by a much larger number of bars.

My invention consists in the combination of a harness-controlling chain,constructed in independent longitudinal sections, with a chain shaft orcylinder, which is provided with engaging surfaces for rotating all thesections simultaneously with the cylinder, and with guides which confineeach section to its proper space on the cylinder.

But more particularly to describe my invention I will refer to thedrawings, in which Figure 1 represents in end view a loom provided withmy harness-chain and cylinder. Figs. 2, 3, and 4 represent differentstyles of harness-chains mounted on ehain-cyliuders. Fig. 5 represents achain, as formerly constructed, for operating as in Fig. 3.

The loom shown in Fig.1 belongs to a wellknown class of looms, which arelargely employed in weavin g fancy cassimeres, and which are frequentlyoperated with. as many as twenty heddles, and sometimes a greaternumber. Ten heddles are shown therein in this instance.

A denotes the harness-chain. It is composed of four sections. Sections(1 b c 01 control, respectively, one, two, three, and four harnesseseach. Each section has its particular part to perform in producing thefabric, and they are shown to have ten, twenty-five, thirty, andseventeen bars respectively, giving an aggregate length in all ofeighty-two bars. Should this same service be sought in.

a chain constructed as formerly, and not in sections, said chain wouldof necessity be two thousand five hundred and fifty bars longthat is tosay, the ten bars would have to be repeated in the chain two hundred andfiftyfive-times, the twenty-five bars onehundred and two times,fthethirty bars eighty-five times, and the seventeen bars one hundred andfifty times before the two ends of the chain could be united, and make aperfect endless chain for producing perfect results. 7

. In-Fig.2 I show "a sectional chain, in which .harnesses each, and thetwo inner ones control five each, Y a In Fig.5 I show a chain of theconstructionand width'heretofore employed on such a loom,ias indicatedinFig. 3.

'In- Fig. 4 I .show a sectional chain of the pattern card system, inwhich the same advantages may accrue by reason of its sec- .tion'alconstruction, as in the instances previously cited. The operativefunctions of both systems of chains are the same, in that they are thecontrollers of the warp-openin g or shedforming devices. It is not to beunderstood that any particular number of sections con- 'stitutes myinvention, provided that thechain for controlling the heddles beconstructed in two or more longitudinal sections, each of WlJlOll' iscomplete in itself, and all of which, mounted on the same cylinder,operate in producin g the desired pattern, as one single chain hasheretofore been operated.

.It is, however, to be distinctly understood that-I do not herein claimas my invention a harness-controlling chain of the character described,except in combination with a chainshaft or cylinder, which is providedwith engaging surfaces for rotatively connecting all .of-the sectionswith the cylinder, and also with guides which prevent each section fromlateral movement on the cylinder while it rotates; g

It is Well known that chains are variously constructed, and that thechain-cylinder is always provided with rotatively-engagin g surfaces,adapted to the character of the chain as, for instance, in Fig.2, thesections of chain are composed of side pieces, as at e, and crossbars,as at f, on which the rollers g are axially mounted. For this classofchain the shaft or cylinder is provided with fixed collars, as

at h, which have concave recesses in their pe ripheries, for receivingthe bars f, and thereby secure the rotation of the chain with thecylinder. These concave recesses in the collars, therefore, constitute,in this instance, the engaging surfaces of the chain-shaft, Whereby itmaintains control of the chain when rotated. Another; kind of chain isshown 'in Fig. 4:, in which the sections are composed of flatpattern-cards. The chain shaft or cylinder, with which such chains areused, is square,

as shown, and its flat surfaces enable it to engage with the cards, androtatively control the chain. In this connection the flat sides orsurfaces of the chain-shaft perform the same function as the recesses inthe collars it previously described. sections may be'preventedfromhaving any lateral movement on the cylinder, each section of chainis provided with guides on the cylinder or chain shaft, and these guidesalso vary in form according to the construction of the chain; as, forinstance, with the chain shown in Fig. 2 the collars h are provided, twofor each section of chain, and they are so located on the shaft withrelation to each that the outer side of each collar will be in closeproximity to the adjacent inner surface .of the side pieces 6 when thebarsf occupy the recesses, and therefore these collars serve as guidesfor this class of chain, and prevent each section from having anylateral movement on .the cylinder.

For convenience of adjustment I prefer to have the chain-shaftlongitudinally slotted, and the collars h provided at their eyes withlugs for entering the slot, and with means for securing them to theshaft, for preventing longitudinal movement thereon.

With the pattern-card chain shown in Fig.

4 the recessed collars cannot be used for per-.

forming the function of guides, because the flat surfaces of thechain-shaft perform the same service as the recesses in the collar h ofFig.2, and therefore I use on that kind of shaft guides, as at h, whichmay be narrow straight strips. of wood or metal, secured to each of thefour sides of the shaft, thus separating it into divisions, each ofwhich is occupied by a section of chain.

To still further illustrate the value of my invention I will assume thatfor producing a certain pattern I require twenty heddles, that saidpattern involved three separate figures;

that for these figures I required five, seven,

and eight heddles, respectively, and sections of chain of nine,eleven,,and fifteen bars, respectively. For preparing for weaving thisfigure by means of chains, constructed as here.- tofore, said chainwould have to be built up, bar after bar, until the initial bar wouldalso constitute the terminal bar, and so form an endless chain. In otherwords, it appears from mathematical calculation that, in said chain, theninebar figure would have to be d uplicated fifty-five times, the eleven-bar fortyfive times, and the fifteen-bar pattern thirtythree times,thus making, in the aggregate, a chain of four hundred and ninety-fivebars in length, while, with my sectional chain, the same service wouldbe performed with an aggregate length of chain of thirty-five bars.

To show to what an extent the addition of a single bar to one of thesepatterns would afiect the length of the chain, I will suppose, that thefifteen-bar figure be changed to a six;

N ow. in order that the other and to their particular section of chain,

I teen-bar figure,other figures remaining as before. In this case thechainwould-necessarily.

combination with a different figure, to take the place of the third inthe figure previously stated. With chains asformerly constructed theentire chain structure must be taken apart and "rebuilt. 'With myimproved sectional chains the retained figure-sections remain intact,and only a new section will be required for the new figure. By thismeans, and by reason of the fact that the changed sectiononly requiresthe precise number of bars 'to produce the new figure, a change ofpattern involves only the labor of a few minutes, while heretofore ithas always only been accomplished in several hours.

It will be seen that, by reason of my invention, there is not only greateconomy attained in the greatly lessened quantity of chain materialrequisite, but the labor heretofore requisite in building up the chainis so far lessened as to cause the cost in time of making up entirelynew patterns with my sectional chain a matter of trifling consequence;whereas with chains as heretofore constructed said labor and expenseconstituted a heavy item in production of goods. It will also be seenthat the side bars and pulley-bars of the sectional chain may be mademuch lighter than heretofore, and therefore several sections may readilybe constructed so as to occupy no more space than the old style of chainof full width.

Moreover, by means of my novel sectional chain 1 am enabled to producewhat I term kaleidoscopic efl'ects, whereby varieti s of irregular andsometimes beautifully-regular figures may be produced as irregularpatterns by the employment of no more skill or thought than is requisitefor displaying the changeable figures in a kaleidoscope. To illustrate,I will refer to that always marketable style of cassimeres known aspepper and salt, and assume that I was working a loom with ten harnesses(for instance) in the production of those goods, and that a chain.const-ructedin five sections was employed for controlling theharnesses. For producing a kaleidoscopic effect I would advance onechain a bar or two, perhapswithdraw another, orin other words I wouldmix them up at random as I would turn a kaleidoscope. As

partial enumeration of the adv'antages'accruing by reason of myinvention, it will be obvious to persons skilled in the art, that stylesof weaving, which haveheretofore been deemed as capable of beingperformed only in a Jacquard loom, are, by reason of my inven;,

tion, brought within the capacity of ordinary pattern-chain looms, andthat operations with ,a Jacquard loom may be greatly simplified,

so far as labor and expense is concerned, in

the necessary preparation and construction of card-chains. In connectionwith the Jacquard looms, it is only necessary further to say, that withafgeneral assortment of card-chain sections, each adapted to produce anisolated figure, a complex pattern involving any desired numberoffigures selected from the assortment may be promptly provided for.

It is not to be understood that each section of the chain need beconfined to the execution of a single perfect figure or series offigures, because any one section of chain may, under some circumstances,be made to assist adjacent sections in completing a figure, when theseveral sections thus coacting are of equal length, or when the coactingbars in the assisting sections may be located at perfectly regularintervals therein.

I am well aware thatharness-controlling chains, as illustrated in Fig.5, and not constructed in independent longitudinal sections, haveheretofore been used on chain-shafts, provided with recessed collars forengaging with the long bars at each end thereof, and adjacent to theinner surfaces of the side pieces, so as to prevent lateral movement ofthe chain on the shaft, and also that cardpattern chains, notconstructed in independent longitudinal sections, have heretofore beenused on chain-shafts provided with guides, one on each side (or at eachedge) of the wide chain, for preventing it from moving laterally on theshaft. As before stated, I do not broadly claim herein aharness-controlling chain constructed in longitudinal sections, but onlyclaim such a chain in combination with a chainshaft or cylinder, whichoperates all the sec tions as one chain, is provided with engagingsurfaces which enable it to rotatively control all of the sections, andwith guides, which confine or limit each section to its precise properposition on the shaft.

I deem it proper to state in this connection, with relation to thepre-existing state of the art, that I well know that it is not newteflivi'he the mmeshdmrhuth chain ihto' twtiltiitgituiiiiial sec JOIiS,-n'dtfo' operate these shtifons fllt'ertiafiely as itifl'ep'r'l'd'ent-Chziii1's; als-mthat it is not new to mount upon the -sm neshtfta-h'aruess' boi'itrolling chain and a box-controlling (aha-in; andt0 01.)er'at'e them togethf a's b't're'eliztiii by mehii's 'of achain-shaft prbvided with engaging su'rfatc'es'fdr rotating theeh ztins,and also with guides for keeping the two chai'n's'f'rom having anylateral indwe- -me'n't (in the shaft; Neither is it new to divide theh'striiess eontrollingq 'ehain into lbn'githdirial sections (if 'e'qiuilllig'th and to connet tli'ei'n by'bars Or rorls; so as to render theij'nin 'd 'pe'ratibn the same as" one Wide chain.

1 The co'mbih'ation 6f the htti'nes's-ctintrollihg chaincmistrl'i'c'ted' in. independent longitudinal "SeCtiOnSQWith achain-shaft or cylinder 'iihvided with enga ing surfaces-and guides, Id" wrran' edw rotate the several sections as if theywer'e one widechain, as herein described binetiori; the 'ra' tical application ofwhich,

invelves an improve'hient'in rehash? 'be-pfo'due'ed to" severalindepehdht mn ituhi'n'il secti'dns (if the hedhle-cbdtrouing patte'rhch'ztih, whereby the pattern to be woven may he prhdiicjed withan'aggregate number (if bar in all th'e secti ns which 'e'q'iiil's thesum or a gregate, or never exceeds the aggregatei of the bztrs aetiietlly rediiis'ite fo'r prhdueihg the pattern, 0r the several figuresthereof. I V Having thus described my invention; I claim as new anddesire to" secure by Letters Pitte'nt The cehihiii'zttihn' of aherhes's-bentfbllirfi-g chain 'ebn'str'uted iii iiidependent l'ohgituttinal seetions;'with a .vcheif shaft br cylinder which is pife'yiiiedwith engaging surfaces for ldtatiilg an the seem-us simultattieous'lywith w cy1im1er, and With guides which confine each secti'dn' to itsfiropi' space On'the cylinder; substantially 's'petiified.

.i'osiiieii F; Wicks.

Witnesses: v

W'AI'ZTER B'. VINCENT;

HOS. T; RICH;

as and for the purpzjses 1

